A court in the Penza Region found 32-year-old Jehovah's Witness Viktor Shayapov guilty of "participation in the activities of an extremist organization" (Part 2 of Article 282.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and sentenced him to two years' suspended imprisonment with eight months' probation. This is reported by Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia.
Shayapov became a defendant in a criminal case against Jehovah's Witness Yuri Kim in Nikolsk, Penza Region, in October 2020. Then the security forces conducted searches at the places of residence of Shayapov and his wife. On August 19, 2020, the Shayapov case was separated into a separate proceeding, and he himself was put on the wanted list. In February 2022, he was placed under house arrest and put on the Rosfinmonitoring list of extremists and terrorists.
In April 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia as an extremist organization and liquidated it. In August 2017, all communities of Jehovah's Witnesses were included in the list of banned extremist organizations.
